Spirit of '76

In the next TGA, we will provide the Table of Contents from all of the issues of The Massachusetts Magazine. While researching this publication, we found other magazines of the time, some of which are still being published (we will add Harper's Bazaar to the list). In many cases, there were members of the extended families involved. The last issue of the TMM was in 1918. 

I just became aware that an aunt (in-law) had a copy of a book in which Dr. Frank published some of his ancestry. The year was 1907 which was when he published the first book on Thomas Gardner, Planter.

The book was published by F. W. Bailey, who authored several books. He also worked out a format for a book that could be a keepsake. Upon looking up F. W. Bailey, I found that he had advertised in the Spirit of '76.

Ad in issue of October of 1903

What was the Spirit of '76? It was a magazine started, in New York, in 1894. It published until 1906; there are digitized copies of the issues which published monthly. This is the banner for the magazine.

Banner of the Spirit of '76

Its scope included the "history of the American People from the landing of the Pilgrims to the present time." Of note is that it was the voice for several organizations including S.A.R., but the finances were never quite right. D.A.R. started its The American Heritage about the same time and published until 2001. On browsing several issues, the Spirit of '76 covered the same material as did the magazine started by Dr. Frank and friends.

Cover from 1903.

So, expect more on this. Let's end with a little from an article in the Oct of 1903 issue.

Lots to discuss, but the topic very much applies today. Some information about the periodical is available in the book by W.E. Davies titled Patriotism on Parade: The Story of Veterans' and hereditary organizations, published by Harvard in 1955. 

Yearly, in D.C., the Hereditary Society Community, which is a collection of societies whose theme is herediatary, meets over a two week period. We will have more on that. 

Remarks: Modified: 05/21/2018

04/03/2018 -- We will be looking more closely at "The Spirit of '76" as a magazine (its time, format, and operational issues) and as a repository of information; as well, we will look further at the work of F.W. Bailey who compiled works on the early marriage of Connecticut and Worcester, MA.

In his 1st Volume of Massachusetts marriages - Worcester (1897), F.W. appended a two-page ad about his work and the ancestral record: Special Word and Greeting. Some families submitted their books to the Library of Congress.

F.W.'s page on George Washington (TSo76 -1898).

History. Looking at the magazines of 1890s and their illustrations, one's mind goes to the linotype: Linotype machine, The Year That Defined American Journalism: 1897 ... Personally, I remember the Linotype in use plus the early days of Phototypesetting through the days and versions of desktop publishing as it evolved. I might add, not as a printer, but as content provider, editor, and worry wart on getting the thing out on deadline.

05/21/2018 -- The information from the 1907 and the 2010 sources agree. We can now fill in Dr. Frank's maternal information: 1907 chart.

Ground zero

Last time, we mentioned that January 1918 was the last publication of The Massachusetts Magazine. For possible contributing factors, we mentioned WWI as the United States was sending troops to Europe by the summer of 1918. Armistice followed that same year.

Coverage of flu cases, 1918

Another factor was that some of the earlier contributors aged or passed away: Col. Thomas Higginson, F.B. Sanborn, and others. Dr. Frank had collected editors and contributors from the ranks of Civil War veterans and various New England Illuminati.

Given the recent reminder, we must add the Spanish Flu. It was first observed in Kansas (Fort Riley) in March 1918. The map is from the Stanford University article on the pandemic (page has stale links, to be resolved). Not long after, the virus was seen at Camp Devens which is outside of Boston and was established in 1917.

This was the pandemic where we see rows and rows of cots with sick soldiers. During this time, medical personnel would have been extremely busy.

The base was named for Civil War general, Charles Bevens, who was involved in several battles in Virginia.

Remarks: Modified: 07/29/2022

03/04/2018 -- NIH, in 2004, published an article by JM Barry (The site of origin of the 1918 influenza pandemic and its public health implications) who had researched and written about the flu pandemic in 1918. JM points to Dr. Loring Miner as having observed cases in Haskell County in January and February of 1918. By March, the flu heavily hit Fort Riley. Haskell County is southwest of Dodge City and is named for Dudley C. Haskell (descendant of Miriam Gardner) who had moved to Lawrence, KS with his family in 1855. Dudley was the namesake of Haskell Indian Nations University.

04/04/2020 -- A video with a good overview of the times and situations: 1918 Spanish Flu documentary.

07/29/2022 -- Noted that Dudley is a descendant of Thomas and Margaret Gardner through their daughter, Miriam. 

Last issue of The Massachusetts Magazine

While researching for the next issue (IV) of the TGA in which we will look at Volumes VI through XI of The Massachusetts Magazine, we were reminded that the last issue of this periodical was 100 years ago, this month (January 1918). This effort by Dr. Frank and friends ran for ten years. We looked at Volumes I through V in the last TGA issue (Vol III). These two will be printed under one cover in the spring of this year.

Frontispiece and counts by volume

So, how to look back at the effort and bring the TMM forward? As I read the articles, I have two things in mind. This was an American effort, as in the participants were, for the most part, of families who were involved with the development of the country, from the beginning. An example is Col. Higginson, His family is pre-Winthrop's arrival in 1630. Too, Gardner and Higginson go way back. Dr. Frank's publisher was Higginson.

The image shows the page count by volumes for the TMM. Volume I was published in 1908. For the most part, the issues were quarterly. In each issue, Dr. Frank presented material related to a regiment that was at the Siege of Boston. Lucie, his sister, carried on Sidney Perley's work for several issues. Judge Thompson presented several articles on his western adventure as a youth, not long after the trek of Lewis and Clark.

As one looks at the TOC of each issue (see this post for a listing - TMM, Vol. I and II which starts a series that provides links to archive.org's digitized issues), one sees that things get sparse about five years in. After our initial introductory look at each issue, which is about done (TGA Vols III and IV), we will start to do a deeper dive into the material. A lot of the topics are still apropos. And, looking at the TMM got me to look at other periodicals, such as The Atlantic (still publishing, albeit they moved from Boston to DC). Also, other topics, such as the Lyceum, came to the attention.

Remarks: Modified: 06/04/2018

01/20/2018 -- As we go through the remaining volumes (VI through XI), we are accumulating more material for additional research and publication. In 1917, the culmination of the discussion about Europe was the U.S. conscription and the initiation of U.S. troop involvement in Europe.

In the October issue of the TMM, in 1914, there was a report on the attitude about Europe. New England favored the Allies. The majority of the respondents to the survey of the Literary Digest were neutral. The survey was of editors of newspapers in the U.S.

Prior to that year, there had been many articles provided by older gents, such as Col. Higginson, F.B. Sanborn and F.M. Thompson who were veterans of the U.S. Civil war. Judge Thompson wrote a series on his western jaunt. Now that we have gone through the entire Table of Contents (all issues) with a quick read, we can get into the depth of the articles and study how they pertain to our interest in research. We intend to publish the digitized pages in future TGA issues.

02/11/2018 -- The Spanish flu would have been a contributing factor to the demise of The Massachusetts Magazine. The flu was first observed in Kansas in March of 1918, however it was in Massachusetts by summer.

02/16/2018 -- Our first post on The Massachusetts Magazine was May 28, 2014. Since then, we have published a copy of the Table of Contents for each issue and have reviewed all of the issues. The first five volumes were summarized in The Gardner Annals (Vol. III), We will have a similar look at the last six volumes in the next issue of The Gardner Annals. TGA Vol III and Vol IV are expected to print in the spring of 2018.

06/04/2018 -- The absence of the magazine was felt.

Call for material

We are putting together the next print of The Gardner Annals. It will include Volumes III and IV and the remainder of the issues of Gardner's Beacon. This is the proposed Table of Contents.

There is still time to suggest an inclusion. Like? Something that you have written about your line. An overview of your relationship to Thomas Gardner of Salem. Any other pertinent topic? Notice that we included a guest article on 'Bosworth and Gardners' and 'Magna Carta' in TGA, Vol. III. 

We published Vols. I and II this fall. Next, we will have Vols. III and IV. Then, we expect to publish once a year given the material that is available. 

Lets us hear from you at publications@TGSoc.org. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/16/2018

02/16/2018 --

Alfred L. Gardner, Ph.D.

This past fall, Alfred L. Gardner, Ph.D., a descendant of son Samuel, was named a Lifetime Achiever by the Marquis Who's Who. In 2016, Alfred 'earned a Scientific Achievement Award' from the US Geological Survey.

• Lifetime Achiever

Born in Salem, MA, Alfred moved with his family to Tucson, AZ after WWII. He attended Tucson High School. As an undergraduate, Alfred was a R.O.T.C. commander at the University of Arizona. He completed his education at the University of Arizona, Louisiana State University, and the University of Texas (M.D. Anderson Institute). After a teaching stint at Louisiana State and Tulane, Alfred moved to Washington, DC to work with the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center with his offices in The National Museum of Natural  History - Smithsonian Institution. Alfred served as Curator, for a time, at the NMNH. Earlier, as a young biologist, Alfred helped establish the displays at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum which is near Tucson.  

Alfred L. Gardner, Ph.D. 

• USGS Profile
• SI.edu Profile

Alfred is a member of many scientific organizations, editor of several journals, author of over 200 refereed papers, and is a Fellow of the AAAS.

• Google Scholar 

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This is the first of a series where we would like to announce accomplishments of descendants of Thomas and Margaret Gardner. For those, we can do an ahnentafel. Alfred's paternal grandfather and grandmother are fully documented in the 1st printing of The Gardner Annals (Vols I and II). Alfred is also a descendant of Thomas Gardner of Roxbury.

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Alfred's line is highlighted in this table that matches up Dr. Frank's 1907 and 1933 books. The index list from the 1907 book is 1, 6, 59, 79, 129, 188, 345. We want to fill in this tree for the first five or six generations, hopefully all the way to 1900.

Remarks: Modified: 05/19/2022

09/07/2018 -- Added Margaret with Thomas as forebears.

02/27/2019 -- This is not really the first. Earlier examples are: Nathaniel Bowditch, Ruth Gardner, Adolphus Greely and George William Coffin, and John Goff.

03/07/2019 -- Added this post to the image index on our portal to truth.

11/11/2019 -- Alfred is a veteran having served in the U.S. Army reserves for several years. This example of a profile can have various themes. See the Wikipedia page for the American patriots (and military) section which has a list that needs further attention.

05/19/2022 -- Recovered the image. 

American manhood

Let's see, from the beginning, I have seen Thomas as an example of the American everyman. I gave him a title of the 'backbone' of the country. That is, his type represents such. There has been a whole series of posts related to this, such as juxtaposing John Gardner (son) being out with the crew that mapped the Merrimack with those of the early Harvard times arguing the 'angels on a pinhead' sort of thing. Too, Thomas appeared to be the first true gentleman of the Dorset effort. He stepped aside for Roger (ancestor, so no conflict there). Of course, he did get back the house when Roger and friends went over to Salem (see Cape Ann, of course and (Not) Far from idyllic). There are more posts on that theme. When John (Endicott) came over, the great house was in good shape, enough to be moved to Salem. So, Thomas and Margaret and kids, evidently, took great care of it.

Puritan couple

Now, switching perspective, of late, I have been studying Virginia. We did live there but did not pay much attention (you know, big DC across the river). Then, I started to research families who were both of the south and the north (Southern New England). Then, I read a book review recently that talked the early times. After all, did we not see the Mayflower celebration, again? So, who had the the First Thanksgiving over here. I remembered a book that I bought in DC way back in the '90s and never read. It covers the first seventeen years. Remember, they had their 400th in 2007 (as we ought to have seen in Maine, too, due to the Popham venture).

But, the new book being reviewed talked about martial law. Even the 'wheel' was mentioned. So, there will be more on this but, for now, look at this book from 2011 (New Men: Manliness in Early America). Hence, the title of this post.s

Also, consider the Wikipedia page on the time of Sir Thomas Dale. My thought was: now, that is something to be thankful for, that the martial law did not take. Subsequent literature suggested how this may have gone down, including the recent book.

But, the northerners were no angels, either. To wit (only one example), selling American Indian combatants into slavery in the Caribbean. They actually did this, to boot, with Quakers, including children.

So, there will be more on this topic. We have to look at all sides of the story (Thomas and Margaret left us mostly with a tabla raza, except for their children).

Remarks: Modified: 02/27/2021

03/01/2019 -- Added the image. We're building an index by images at our portal to truth.

02/27/2021 -- Changed to using American Indian. 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol VII, No 2

This issue of Gardner's Beacon gives additional reporting on our research activity. Too, we have the first print of The Gardner Annals in which issues of Gardner's Beacon (Vols. I, II, III) are provided in an appendix. This print edition included Vols. I and II of the TGA.

GB Vol VII_No2

In the current issue of Gardner's Beacon, we continue to look at The Massachusetts Magazine. All of the issues have now been reviewed with their Table of Contents reprinted. Too, we have looked closely at a few articles that are pertinent. Both Dr. Frank and his sister, Lucie, were regular contributors to the magazine. Too, Charles Alcott Flagg, of the Library of Congress, wrote a regular series on western pioneers from Massachusetts to Michigan.

Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson was an early advisory editor. He will be one of the TMM supporters who will be featured in Vol. IV, No. 1 of The Gardner Annals which is undergoing preparation. A descendant of Count Rumford provides a short article in the TMM about efforts related to honoring the gentleman. We will take a closer look. Vol IV will print with Vol. III in the next printing to be ready in early spring of 2018.

The current print version of the TGA (Vol I and II) and GB (Vol I, II, III) can be obtained through emailing for instructions: publications@TGSoc.org.

See Vol. VII, No. 2 of Gardner's Beacon for the issue (PDF).

Remarks: Modified: 12/01/2017

11/30/2017 --